It's official: A.J. Hill named head coach of Du Quoin's football Indians

The Du Quoin Board of Education Thursday made it official and voted to hire DHS alum and SIU Saluki standout A.J. Hill as head coach of the football Indians beginning with the 2015 season.

Hill worked alongside retiring coach Al Martin this past season as the Indians posted a 4-5 record.

Hill was hired as a social studies teacher earlier this year--not as a coach--but the coaching discussion is inescapable.

Supt. Gary Kelly calls Hill a "student of the game" and borrows from a great football gene pool. Hill will be paid a stipend of approximately $5,922 to coach the Indians.

In other action, the board approved a resolution directing the regional school superintendent to certify to the county clerk the question of imposing up to a 1 cent sales tax to be used exclusively for school facility purposes. Dist. 300 and Pinckneyville Dist. 50 were the only districts which had not yet asked to place the referendum on the April 7 ballot.

The board also approved a maternity leave for middle school teacher Kristin Wilson effective May1, 2015 and at press time were considering the hiring of a cook and Arrow Academy personnel.